Historically, floor wax and floor finish have been removed from flooring substrates by harsh chemicals with a very high pH, generally in the range of 11 to 13.7. A well known component of such formulations is ammonium hydroxide, as documented in U.S. Pat. No. 3,553,143 issued to Bauer. The pH of the compositions described therein is greater than 12. Gradually, ammonium hydroxide has been replaced with monoethanolamine, as used for example in the compositions of U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,896 issued to Bunegar et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,610 issued to Bingham. However, this alteration has not significantly minimized the caustic nature of these products. Although Bunegar reports compositions which generally have a pH below 12, there was no attempt made to lower the pH to levels which can be considered noncaustic. Additionally, monoethanolamine, in any significant amount, is considered a hazardous substance. Thus, the industry is in need of effective wax or floor finish strippers which avoid the caustic and hazardous chemical nature of the conventional compositions.